Interview with Von, Pioneer of Sex Positive Synth Pop

Von is a New York City-based pop star/musician, student at the renown NYU Clive David Institute of Recorded Music, and one-woman writer, producer, performer, and sound engineer. Her hits include Action and, most recently, Too Many.

Both of these songs used sound elements created from her orgasm, using the Lioness Vibrator! Naturally, we wanted to share more about her and her sex positive synth pop (literal genre name—it's great) with our readers.

What’s your background?

I’m from a pretty traditional suburb in Pennsylvania. My dad’s an accountant and the rest of my family works in social work, education, service management, marketing etc. In other words pretty normal jobs. Saying I wanted to be an artist for a living was especially out of the ordinary to the rest of my family members.

How did you find out about us? How has the Lioness been different from other vibrators (in terms of functionality, experience, etc)?

I found out about Lioness really by accident. I originally wanted to use just vibration patterns from vibrators, so I was reaching out to sex toy companies asking if I could have different types of data for various products. Through a lot of google searches, I kind of stumbled upon Lioness. Once I read more and realized what it could do I was like… oh man, this could really be crazy.

I think the reason this worked so seamlessly with Lioness is because what I was asking for was already apart of Lioness’ mission to their consumers. Usually, such specific data is a backend operation, that customers don’t see/don’t care about. Lioness is essentially a health app, at least for me. The goal of the company is to provide me with as much of my data as possible in a fully transparent medium. This is super different from other vibrators - Lioness goes beyond the initial experience to give yourself a deeper understanding of your body. That, to me, is crazy cool.

How has the Lioness Vibrator changed your music?

It’s honestly become another essential instrument. Whereas before my most important instrument was my computer, now it’s also my Lioness. I really think of it now as a fully assimilated part of music making process. My actual sound hasn’t changed much, but my process and ability to customize my sound design have definitely changed how connected I feel to the music I’m making.

Von's orgasm in editing software.

Why is the topic of sexual pleasure so important to you?

Sexuality is so inherently human and is yet something that so many people are still ashamed to talk about. For me, it isn’t sexual pleasure that’s so important but more so respect and validation. The same way you need communication to succeed in friendships/work/every other aspect of life, you need communication during any sexual experience. Sex has been made so taboo that non men specifically don’t have the necessary education/confidence/ability to talk about sexual pleasure openly. Giving those people voices to do so is what’s most important to me.

What has the reception been for your music? What has been the most surprising thing you’ve learned/discovered on your artistic journey?

Overwhelming!! Haha for so long I’ve been used to just making music completely alone in my basement apartment. Sharing it with people is so new, let alone sharing it with a bunch of strangers. I’m blown away by how positive the response has been. I’ve been in such a bubble. There are so many people out there who are just as passionate about all the things I’m talking about as I am. I’ve made so many internet friends and just found so many spaces that have really welcomed me with open arms. Whether it be other sex tech communities or just sex positive meme accounts on twitter, I’ve really found my people from sharing my music.

Photos by Farah Idrees

What’s been the reception from your professors and other people you’ve worked with?

I love school, so I’m always excited to share whatever I’m working on with my professors. Some get it, some don’t. But that’s life in general, especially when what you’re doing is somewhat niche. I’m actually really happy that most of my professors had no idea what sex tech was until I started talking about it. It makes me have to practice explaining what I’m doing to people that may not understand. I’m really blessed that even though all of my professors aren’t 100% well versed in what sex tech is/means, they’ve given me nothing but support and super helpful critical feedback. Their goal at the end of the day is to help us find our thing and commit to it. Based on that they’ve more than done their job.

You’ve mentioned you’ve gotten different reactions from men and women. Could you tell me a bit more about that?

There have been some people who just tell me I’m gross and crazy, both men and women. Which is fine, because again, what I’m doing isn’t for everyone. But with those people aside, men usually sound more surprised about the stuff I’m writing about than women. A lot of guys have hit me up being like “can you explain this to me?”, “what’s an orgasm gap?” etc. etc. And honestly that’s the goal—to make those conversations/inquiries happen. Most women are like, yeah thanks for saying something about this, it’s about time. There are other men who’ve said super rude things to me about my music and it’s message. For those people, I have to choose wisely about who I’ll take on as a challenge to change their perspective and who’s just not worth my energy.

What’s next?

So much music, and video and collaborations etc. etc. etc!!!!!!

Where can we get your music?

All over the interwebs!!! Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes etc. Here’s a link!

Where can people know when you have updates or are doing performances? There might be some Lioness readers who would want to follow your work!

Instagram!!!! Woop!!! @vonmusic That’s where I post most about everything going on!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you!!!!!! To you and the entire Lioness team. Seriously, I couldn’t do this without you.

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Want to do some of your own exploring? Find out more about The Lioness here!

Lioness is the first and only vibrator that helps you improve your orgasms.The world’s most advanced rabbit-style vibrator. Precision sensors let you literally see your arousal and orgasm. Experiment, understand yourself, and have better orgasms—after all, as the saying goes, “never measured, never improved.”